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Queen-like habits, Scary stuff, Portrait Gallery and a visit to the pub of course...

Another week is gone! On Monday the Cock's landlord welcomed our group as usual and we had a nice little drink. The table I was sitting at was near the back of the room, and Slavek was seating at the other end, and he managed to start talking to the locals! Two men at the next table were quite happy to have a chat with him and a few other students joined in the conversation, so it's not only the SGI students you can meet on Monday, but you can participate in some real London pub discussions with Londoners, who are usually quite relaxed when having a drink! In the same class as Slavek is Dinara, a Russian girl who is struggling this week because her SGI classmate Daniel, from Germany, returned home last week, and she misses him! You really get to know people well at the school, and if you're staying for a long time, you can sometimes have this kind of problem... Poor thing! On Tuesday, Amy took a group to Brown's (which may well become our second local...) to have the English Afternoon Tea. it consists of... tea, obviously, accompanied by cakes, scones, and salmon& cucumber sandwiches... A classic English treat. While enjoying their clotted cream and jam they discussed what the "proper" way of eating a scone is: I went to Cornwall last October and, there, the afternoon tea is very commonly found, so my boyfriend and I had a few, and he always ate them like a sandwich: cut in two halves, spread the cream and jam, close and bite... I didn't do it that way, but seeing as he's 100% English, and I'm not, I thought this was the traditional method, and shared this information with Enrique, one of my students, on Monday... When Amy saw him "sandwiching" his scone, she told him that indeed, this was not the correct way, and corrected me! Oops! Sorry Enrique! But what is the correct method? Some like it as a sandwich, some with the cream first and then jam (like Dan and I) and some the other way around, like Amy - because otherwise the jam can make you fingers sticky... Well I don't know, but I do know I love scones and you should try it next time if you haven't had the chance yet... It will be back on the programme soon... On Wednesday Owen got us another great deal for a play at the theatre: Instead of £42, the tickets only cost £12.50 for "Ghost Stories" at the Duke of York Theatre. There were mixed reactions to the show. To start, it was deemed a little difficult by my intermediate students - There was a lot of pure story telling and so it was hard to follow... In terms of scaryness, one student told me that he wasn't able to get to sleep that night... but then 3 others said it was actually funny, rather than scary! Apart from the scene when the audience hears a woman (ghost) scream from what appears to be the back of the theatre... I haven't actually seen it myself, but I wanted to, but anyway in the future I may advertise the level of understanding required to appreciate the show fully. Finally yesterday, Gavin walked down to Trafalgar Square with 7 students, to the National Portrait Gallery. It's located in the same building as the National Gallery but with its entrance to the side. As soon as they had entered (and taken the picture), they all spread out and had a good look around at all the famous British faces on display. It was a good museum visit! This is it for the week, tonight there is the option of going to a Valentine's Party organised by Lost in London, and tickets are still available from reception, if you're reading this blog this afternoon! I'll be back on Monday for the pub, then on Tuesday we'll have a little Love, Actually screening, a historical London walk on Wednesday and the Tate Britain on Thursday! Join us then but until the, have a lovely weekend!